PROMUOVERE LA COMUNICAZIONE SANITARIA IN UN’OTTICA IAP- CENTRED

The steady promotion of participatory healthcare, from Empowerment policies for cancer patients to Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs), is acknowledging the patient- citizen’s status as an Individual Active Participant (IAP), thus establishing a new patient-centred era based on the healing power of words. Given the impact of health communication notably in oncology units, this Participatory Action Research project detected and gave expression to both clinical and social needs in favour of female IAPs treated with radiotherapy. The project consisted of group discussions and support initiatives aimed at: (1) spurring self-awareness; (2) fostering health communication; (3) building a community of female IAPs regionwide.La progressiva promozione di prassi sanitarie partecipative, dal Patto per l’Empowerment del paziente oncologico alla diffusione dei Patient-Reported Outcomes, sta riconoscendo al/la paziente-cittadino/a il suo status di Individuo Attivo e Partecipe (IAP), e sancendo l’ingresso della comunità medica e scientifica in una nuova fase patient- centred: quella delle “parole che curano”. Dato l’impatto della comunicazione sanitaria nei reparti oncologici, il presente progetto di Ricerca-Azione Partecipata ha posto al servizio di donne-IAP trattate con radioterapia l’analisi dei loro bisogni clinici e sociali attraverso gruppi di supporto e discussione tesi a: (1) incentivare autoconsapevolezza; (2) promuovere la comunicazione sanitaria; (3) istituire una comunità di donne-IAP nel territorio pugliese

The indirect effect of cognitive reserve on the relationship between age and cognition in pathological ageing: A cross-sectional retrospective study in an unselected and consecutively enrolled sample

Cognitive reserve (CR) allows individuals to maintain cognitive functionality even in the presence of pathologies. The compensation hypothesis suggests that CR plays an indirect role between age and cognitive decline, contrasting the negative effect of ageing on cognition. We test this hypothesis in an unselected and consecutively enrolled sample of memory clinic attendees (n = 134) who completed the CR Index questionnaire and three neuropsychological tests assessing global cognition (MMSE, FAB, CDT). Participants were divided into two groups based on standard diagnostic criteria (DSM-5): those who were cognitively impaired (n = 92) and those who were preserved (n = 42). A principal component analysis was used to extract a composite measure of global cognitive functioning from the three neuropsychological tests, and mediation analysis was used to examine the relationship between CR, age and global cognitive functioning in the two groups. Results revealed that: (i) age had a significant direct negative effect on the global cognitive score in both groups; (ii) the three socio-behavioural proxies of CR together suppress the direct negative relationship between age and global cognitive score in cognitively impaired patients but not in cognitively preserved participants. This study confirms the association between CR, age and cognition and allows us to validate its role in a population with cognitive impairment and extend findings to a low-to-middle educated population. These results hold important implications for public health and wellness promotion, emphasising the beneficial role of maintaining healthy and active physical, cognitive and social lifestyles

Promuovere la comunicazione sanitaria in un’ottica IAP-centered. Un progetto di Ricerca-Azione Partecipata

Come sancito dalla World Health Organization, la salute è un “diritto umano fondamentale” ed un “valore” che i cittadini e l’intera collettività sono chiamati a tutelare e difendere (WHO, 1948). La pubblicazione del Patto per l’Empowerment del paziente oncologico (CPE, 2017) e la promozione di politiche di cittadinanza attiva e di servizi come i Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) in ambito ospedaliero ed ambulatoriale testimoniano l’attenzione istituzionale verso una sanità equa, plurale ed inclusiva, basata sulla persona. Diversi contesti di cura stanno riconoscendo al paziente lo status di “Individuo Attivo e Partecipe” (Individual Active Participant [IAP]) (Topol, 2015) a cui spettano le principali decisioni sanitarie. L’accresciuto controllo di tutti gli attori sociali può essere predittivo di una migliore aderenza al trattamento da parte dei pazienti (Náfrádi, Nakamoto & Schulz, 2017), e la comunicazione sanitaria svolge un ruolo cruciale in questo processo di consapevole partecipazione (Immacolato et al., 2010). Recenti studi (Chou et al., 2017) ipotizzano inoltre un’associazione fra qualità della comunicazione medico-paziente ed andamento pronostico in pazienti con diagnosi di tumore. In accordo con i principi della Ricerca-Azione Partecipata (RAP), il presente lavoro intende facilitare l’accesso e la partecipazione dei pazienti/IAP dell’Ospedale di Brindisi Di Summa-Perrino alle decisioni di cura radioterapica. Lo studio si articola nelle seguenti fasi: 1) conduzione di 6 sessioni di Focus Group Discussion (FGD) al fine di identificare i bisogni reali di ciascun paziente; 2) svolgimento di analisi linguistiche quantitative (Corpus Linguistics) e qualitative (analisi del discorso) sui dati raccolti dalle FGD con l’obiettivo di ottenere una mappatura dei pattern comunicativi dei pazienti; 3) restituzione ed implementazione dei dati nella pratica clinica, attraverso la co-costruzione di spazi di confronto e comunicazione fra pazienti, caregiver e personale sanitario. Scopo principale del progetto è offrire ai pazienti la duplice opportunità di “dar voce” e “dare un nome” ai propri bisogni, acquisendo un maggior controllo in tutte le fasi della terapia. Attraverso l’adozione di un approccio bottom-up multidisciplinare e multimetodo, lo studio rende possibile una collaborazione fra le diverse figure coinvolte nella realtà ospedaliera locale, volta a promuovere la comunicazione come un’essenziale prestazione sanitaria

Irrigation management is a key farmer practice for a better use of nitrate; a case study in an intensive open field endive crop

Trabajo presentado en International Symposium on Plant Nutrition, Fertilization, Soil Management, celebrado en Angers (Francia) del 14 al 20 de agosto de 2022

Phytoremediation of Contaminated Environments Using Halophytes: General Overview

Due to anthropogenic activities, potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) have disrupted our ecosystems. These dangerous substances can infiltrate the food chain, affecting the environment and human life. To preserve our natural resources for future generations, scientists must look for eco-friendly alternatives. About 300 million tons of PTEs from industrial and consumer items, including Cr, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Pb, and Sn, enter the receiving environments each year. Halophytes plants are found worldwide and grow in various places, including coastal zones, dunes, high-salinity environments, and inland deserts. They may also withstand PTEs stress due to evolved morphological and physiological characteristics such as reduced heavy metal intake through the root system. PTEs contamination causes agriculture yield losses, increases environmental concerns about human well-being, and causes a significant drop in marine and coastal ecosystem biodiversity. Halophytes are plants that can flourish in extreme conditions such as high salinity and PTEs toxicity. This work emphasizes the role of the halophyte plants in terms of PTEs phytoremediation as a long-term strategy for polluted environmental ecosystem restoration, which aligns with the current European Green Deal strategy for a neutral Europe climate by 2050

Effects of Cover Crops and Drip Fertigation Regime in a Young Almond Agroecosystem

The sustainability of woody crop agroecosystems requires continued improvements to water, nutrient and soil management. In this work, the combination of resource availability or fertigation dose with soil management practices was tested in a 2 × 2 factorial design in a drip irrigated young almond orchard. The fertigation doses were: the farmer supply at 60% of crop evapotranspiration and full nutrient requirements and the half-farmer supply at 30% of crop evapotranspiration and half nutrient requirements. The soil management practices were: bare soil and cover crops in the inter-row (mixture of grasses and legumes). Tree growth, yield, water and nutrient status, and cover crop biomass and nutrient status were determined, as well as inter-row soil C and N concentration. Results showed that the effect of resource availability was independent of soil management and vice versa. The half farmer treatment reduced tree vegetative growth and yield compared to farmer treatment, due to a negative effect on the water status, without observing a decrease in the concentration of nutrients in leaves or fruit. Trees with cover crop also reduced growth and yield compared to bare soil management. This was due to a nutritional competition, mainly of Ca, Fe, Mn and Zn, rather than to a decline in tree water status. Cover crops sequester up to 1 t/ha/year of carbon but do not increase soil organic carbon, nor soil total nitrogen. Cover crops proved to be efficient in reducing soil nitrate concentration in the topsoil and therefore has potential to prevent its leaching. Deficit fertigation and the use of cover crops can be effective practices to preserve and save water and nutrient resources in Mediterranean agroecosystems, but should be established with caution so as not to compromise the profitability of the orchard

Reframing Breast Cancer Experience through Metaphors: A New Operative System to Enhance Patients’ Healing Process

Adapting healthcare to patients’ metaphor use is key in understanding the association between language and patient’s emotional and cognitive processes, thus influencing their healing trajectories (Hommerberg, Gustafsson & Sandgren, 2020). Inspired by Sontag’s work (1978), several studies criticized the use of bellicose metaphors for cancer, as they provide stereotypical narratives that negatively frame illness experience, with the risk of engendering fatalism or self-blame in patients who are likely to ‘lose’ their ‘battle’ (Semino et al., 2018). Comparing cancer to an ‘enemy to be fought’ may even compromise adherence, unfolding the need for cross-disciplinary research aimed at bridging the gap between cognition and discourse by empowering health communication (Putignano et al., 2020; Semino et al., 2018). To meet this need, this work aims to describe a systematic protocol to be implemented in the near future within the Breast Care Unit of the Bari University Hospital. Driven by patients’ demand for personalized communication while coping with breast cancer (Putignano et al., 2020), this protocol aims to embrace an individualized perspective on patients’ manifold illness experiences. Hence, protocol procedures involve the administration of psychological screening inventories, together with visual-verbal cards retrieved from Semino’s Metaphor Menu (2019), in an effort to: 1.build a novel corpus of patients’ metaphors; 2.establish a patient-centered protocol made up of a brief interview regarding metaphors, in addition to psychometric questionnaires; 3.detect potential relationships between self-reported illness representation, emotional status, and psychological- discursive strategies

Effects of cover crops and drip fertigation regime in a young almond agroecosystem

The sustainability of woody crop agroecosystems requires continued improvements to water, nutrient and soil management. In this work, the combination of resource availability or fertigation dose with soil management practices was tested in a 2 × 2 factorial design in a drip irrigated young almond orchard. The fertigation doses were: the farmer supply at 60% of crop evapotranspiration and full nutrient requirements and the half-farmer supply at 30% of crop evapotranspiration and half nutrient requirements. The soil management practices were: bare soil and cover crops in the inter-row (mixture of grasses and legumes). Tree growth, yield, water and nutrient status, and cover crop biomass and nutrient status were determined, as well as inter-row soil C and N concentration. Results showed that the effect of resource availability was independent of soil management and vice versa. The half farmer treatment reduced tree vegetative growth and yield compared to farmer treatment, due to a negative effect on the water status, without observing a decrease in the concentration of nutrients in leaves or fruit. Trees with cover crop also reduced growth and yield compared to bare soil management. This was due to a nutritional competition, mainly of Ca, Fe, Mn and Zn, rather than to a decline in tree water status. Cover crops sequester up to 1 t/ha/year of carbon but do not increase soil organic carbon, nor soil total nitrogen. Cover crops proved to be efficient in reducing soil nitrate concentration in the topsoil and therefore has potential to prevent its leaching. Deficit fertigation and the use of cover crops can be effective practices to preserve and save water and nutrient resources in Mediterranean agroecosystems, but should be established with caution so as not to compromise the profitability of the orchard.This research was funded by FUNDACIÓN CAJAMAR; “Uso eficiente del agua en escenarios de cambio climático”, and projects Sudoe ClimAlert SOE3/P4/F0862 e Interreg Atalantic Triple-CEAPA_772/2018.Peer reviewe

Findings from the RES NOVAE Project: new scenarios, devices and applications for smart grids and active distribution grids

This paper summarizes all research advancements obtained by the Politecnico di Bari through the RES NOVAE Project activities in the field of the smart grids. Such activities have been aimed at bringing substantial contributions in the development of smart grid in medium-voltage and low-voltage distribution systems. Since the scientific approach to smart grids is intrinsically multidisciplinary, specific researches were addressed in all the fields of electrical and information engineering that are involved in the creation of future distribution systems. The paper is organized in seven sections, each providing description of the research results developed in a specific field (power systems, communication systems, power electronics, electric measurements, circuits and systems, information processing systems, automatic control)